BACKGROUND: Closely related pathologic disorders sometimes manifest with the same symptoms, making for a complex differential diagnosis. This is the situation in plantar fasciitis (PF) and myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) with myofascial trigger points (MTPs) in the sole of the foot. This research assessed the analgesic effect on plantar pain of combination therapy with interferential current stimulation therapy (ICST), treating MTPs in the great toe adductor muscle and the short flexor muscles of the toes in patients whose diagnosis was compatible with PF or MPS...

The prolactin-inducible protein (PIP) is considered a valuable biomarker that is associated with both benign and malignant pathological conditions of the mammary gland. The function of PIP in breast tumorigenesis remains unknown; however, evidence from our laboratory and others suggest that it regulates host immunity. Studies with PIP-deficient (PIP-/- ) mice demonstrated significantly lower numbers of CD4+ T cells in their secondary lymphoid organs, impaired Th1 response, and impaired nitric oxide (NO) production...

PURPOSE: This study analyzed the clinical factors with the aim to determine the relationship between endotracheal tube (ETT) size and leakage ventilation (LV) and tracheal dilatation. METHODS: All patients with ETT intubation and ventilator support for more than 6 months were retrospectively evaluated. The inner tracheal diameter (TD) was measured over image at the starting and 6 months after ventilator initiated. We compared the clinical factors, outcomes and complications between patients with and without LV, as well as with and without a TD enlarging more than 25% after 6 months (TDn)...

Sorting nexins anchor trafficking machines to membranes by binding phospholipids. The paradigm of the superfamily is sorting nexin 3 (SNX3), which localizes to early endosomes by recognizing phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) to initiate retromer-mediated segregation of cargoes to the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Here we report the solution structure of full length human SNX3, and show that PI3P recognition is accompanied by bilayer insertion of a proximal loop in its extended Phox homology (PX) domain. Phosphoinositide (PIP) binding is completely blocked by cancer-linked phosphorylation of a conserved serine beside the stereospecific PI3P pocket...

Aim Clostridium histolyticum collagenase (CCH) is nowadays an alternative treatment for the contracture of Dupuytren. Our objective is to assess its effectiveness at one year in a series of consecutive patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Prospective study with minimum follow-up of one year. Evaluation of results and adverse effects. RESULTS: A total of 75 joints treated in 51 patients were included. The average age was 65.18years (SD: 7.288) and 82.7% were males. The initial mean contraction of the MCP was 34...

During plant-pathogen interactions, pathogenic bacteria have evolved multiple strategies to cope with the sophisticated defense systems of host plants. Proline iminopeptidase (PIP) is essential to Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) virulence, and conserved in many plant-associated bacteria, but its pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we found that disrupting pip in Xcc enhanced its flagella-mediated bacterial motility by decreasing intracellular c-di-GMP levels, and overexpression of pip restricted bacterial motility by elevating c-di-GMP levels...

Whether the antimutagenic DNA repair protein MGMT works solo in human cells and if it has other cellular functions is not known. Here, we show that human MGMT associates with PCNA and in turn, with the cell cycle inhibitor, p21cip1 in glioblastoma and other cancer cell lines. MGMT protein was shown to harbor a nearly perfect PCNA-Interacting Protein (PIP box) motif. Isogenic p53-null H1299 cells were engineered to express the p21 protein by two different procedures. Reciprocal immunoprecipitation/western blotting, Far-western blotting, and confocal microscopy confirmed the specific association of MGMT with PCNA and the ability of p21 to strongly disrupt the MGMT-PCNA complexes in tumor cells...

BACKGROUND: Renal function progressively worsens with age. Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) of renally excreted active drugs (READs) is common in older adults, leading to an increased rate of iatrogenic illness. The Ghent Older People's Prescription community Pharmacy Screening (GheOP3 S-) tool is an effective, explicit instrument that was developed for community pharmacists (CPs) to detect PIP. So far, this tool does not assess PIP of the frequently used READs in older patients with renal impairment...

Piperacillin, in combination with tazobactam is a common first-line antibiotic used for the treatment of pleural infection, however its pleural pharmacokinetics and penetration has not previously been reported. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay for quantification of piperacillin (PIP) and tazobactam (TAZ). PIP and TAZ were extracted from both human plasma and pleural fluid samples by protein precipitation in methanol containing the internal standards (IS) piperacillin-d5 (PIP-d5 ) and sulbactam (SUL)...

Chromium-based metal-organic framework (MOF) Cr-MIL-100/101 activated by activator and aluminum trialkyl compound serve as unique, highly efficient heterogeneous single-site catalysts for the controlled polymerization of isoprene, which not only exhibit quasi-living nature in isoprene polymerization but also unprecedentedly switch from cyclic to cis-1,4-selectivity depending on the activator used to yield low molecular weight cyclic PIPs or extremely high molecular weight cis-1,4-PIPs. Such heterogeneous Cr-MOF catalysts can be recycled approximately five times...

The level of artificial electromagnetic field (EMF) has steadily increased with the development of human civilization. The developing chicken embryo has been considered a good model to study the effects of EMF on living organisms. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of a 1800 MHz electromagnetic field during embryogenesis on the frequency of chick embryo malformations, morphometric parameters of the heart and liver and concentration of corticosterone in blood plasma, lipid and glycogen content in the liver of newly hatched chicks...

No study has compared the QuickDASH score after Swanson implant arthroplasty performed by dorsal versus volar approaches. This study compared the outcomes of PIP arthroplasties through a volar approach as described by Schneider versus a dorsal approach as described by Chamay by determining the QuickDASH score, pain and range of motion. Our series included 21 Swanson implant arthroplasty cases in 17 patients aged 62 years on average, among which 12 were females. A volar approach was performed in 9 cases (group I) and a dorsal approach was performed in 12 cases (group II)...

In the present study, the effects of nine compounds on the luminol-O2 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction catalyzed by gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were investigated. p-Iodophenol (PIP), known as a traditional enhancer in horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-catalyzed luminol-H2 O2 CL reaction, exhibited the highest enhancement effect on the luminol-O2 -Au NPs CL reaction. The addition of PIP at a final concentration of 1.25 mM to luminol-O2 -Au NPs CL system enhanced the CL signal almost 30-fold. Interestingly, the enhanced CL reaction exhibited a slow and intense CL signal which is different from the CL profile of luminol-H2 O2 -Au NPs CL system reported in previously...

For the majority of Belgian hospitals, a pharmacist-led full medication review process is not standard care and, therefore, challenging to introduce. With this study, we aimed to evaluate the successes and barriers of the implementation of a pharmacist-led full medication review process in the geriatric ward at a local Belgian hospital. To this end, we carried out an interventional study, performing a full medication review on older patients (≥70 years) with polypharmacy (≥5 drugs) who had an unplanned admission to the geriatric ward...

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to evaluate: a) the prevalence and types of potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults with hypertension or diabetes mellitus and hypertension; and b) whether or not the differences in training of primary care physicians was associated with the PIP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Primary care prescriptions issued by family physicians and general practitioners were audited using Screening Tools of Older Person's Prescriptions criteria (version 1) with 18 out of 65 applicable criteria...

Background and Aims: Head and neck movements alter the shape of the pharynx, resulting in changes in the oropharyngeal leaking pressures and ventilation with supragottic airway devices. We compared the effect of the different head-and-neck positions on the oropharyngeal leak pressures and ventilation with the I-Gel™ and ProSeal™ laryngeal mask airway (PLMA) in anaesthetised paralysed children. Methods: A total of 70 children were randomly assigned to receive PLMA ( n = 35) or I-Gel™ ( n = 35) for airway management...

INTRODUCTION: Enterobacteriaceae are a group of gram-negative rods that can cause serious infections in humans. A susceptibility in Klebsiella pneumoniae of 79.4% to piperacillin/tazobactam (PIP/TAZO) is reported in pediatric hospitals in Chile. There is no published data published to date regarding PIP/TAZO susceptibility to other Enterobacteriaceae species in this population. AIM: To measure the in vitro PIP/TAZO susceptibility in Enterobacteriaceae isolates from patients in a pediatric hospital in Chile...